IROQUOIS STONE CARVINGS

Up to early historic times Iroquois artists carved stone pipes (plain, effigy), beads, rare burial figurines, occasional bowls. In the summer of 1969 IROQRAFTS obtained stone and encouraged craftsmen to make pipes. By October we began the fine art carvings here at Ohsweken and it has been full-steam ahead ever since! Our artists generally are young men and women from early teens to late 30's who have found in this medium a new way to express the Iroquois. Many tons of stone are now used yearly. Many are learning this art (we have worked with over 260, and there are many working independent of us) both from friends and in the school system. It has become a firmly entrenched art form at Six Nations and has spread to many other reserves (Cattaraugus, Tyendenaga, Kahnawake, Akwesasne, and perhaps others about which we have not yet heard). At Tuscarora, Duff Wilson has done much to develop fellow artists; one of his proteges, Joe Jacobs, Cayuga from Six Nations, carved a stone doorway for the House of Parliament in Ottawa. Iroquois stone sculptures are now in the permanent collections of many museums. 

Two types of steatite (soapstone) are used: a dark green Canadian stone found near one of the Mohawk reserves; and a brownish stone from the old Tuscarora home-land. From time to time we obtain white gypsum sculptures from stone beneath the Reserve. All carvings marketed by IROQRAFTS are marked with a registration number, and the artist's real ('Indian') name, nation, clan.